Lets just pull something out and see if it sticks.
You can have reasons for not including freshman, but yours a flawed.
1) The Kearsley rule.... Again nice arbitrary "rule"; What about the Harvey rule or the Williams rule or the Romney rule? Oh yeah what about, McKay Jacobson rule or the Jordan Johnson rule. Just because Kearsley got lazy, doesn't mean you don't include freshman. You can make a rather educated determination by looking at some of the freshman.
2) Your track record is your track record, whether it is one year or seven. Again although another sport, are we to conclude that Coach Calipari sucks because we don't include freshman in a recruiting discussion. Bronco should be given credit for a fantastic find.